


wishing on a star that's just a satellite

by Laburnum26



Category: Inazuma Eleven
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-26
Updated: 2020-08-26
Packaged: 2021-03-06 15:40:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,290
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26121295
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Laburnum26/pseuds/Laburnum26
Summary: On the way from grocery-shopping, Touko and Aki stop at the riverbank to gaze at the stars and talk.Written for IE Sapphic Week 2020, day 1: stargazing.
Relationships: Kino Aki/Zaizen Touko
Comments: 2
Kudos: 7





	wishing on a star that's just a satellite

**Author's Note:**

> so, i don't usually write for themed weeks bc i'm terrible with schedules (and it's already day 3 so this is isn't even on time xd) but i suddenly got inspired by this prompt and i just had to write this short little thing.
> 
> title from the song satellite by all time low

“Aren’t those for the boys?” Zaizen Touko furrowed her brows as she stared at the small box of orange juice in Aki’s hand.

“Don’t worry,” the green-haired manager reassured her. “I bought enough for everyone. They won’t even know that there were two surplus to begin with.”

It was late in the evening and the sun had already set on Inazuma Town, coating everything in a thin layer of darkness. The two girls were sitting in the grass at the riverbank. After having been sent on a two-hours-long shopping spree for groceries for the camp(well, technically, Aki was sent for the groceries and when coach Hitomiko suggested that one of the boys go with her to help her carry the groceries, Touko was the first one to volunteer), they stopped to take a break on the way back. Touko took the drink from Aki and and the girls shared a conspiring smile, as if they were partners in a crime only two of them knew they had commited. 

Aki stabbed her box of orange juice with the straw with just a bit more force than it would have been necessary. She heaved a sigh as she leaned back on the soft grass, staring up at the sky. Touko followed suite. She wasn’t usually the type to marvel at the beauty of the stars or anything cheesy like that but she found that they were shining especially bright tonight. 

“It’s a pretty night,” the words slipped out of the defender’s before she could stop them. What’s with her tonight? You’re too sentimental, girl, she scolded herself.

“Yeah,” Aki answered half-heartedly. Only just now had Touko noticed that she seemed distracted. 

“Is everything alright?” she asked, though she wasn’t sure that she had the right to inquire about such a personal matter.

“Yeah, sure,” the manager replied with the same enthusiasm as her previous response. Touko decided against pushing the subject. They sat there in contemplative silence, sipping their respective box of orange juice, listening to the wind as it gently caressed the grass around them.

Suddenly, Aki decided to speak.

“Do you ever... just wish that you had made some decisions differently?” 

Touko didn’t rush with her answer, thinking it over carefully.

“I try to live the way I won’t have regrets. But sometimes, it just can’t be helped, I think,” she shrugged. “Like with my dad. I always think that there was  _ something more _ I could have done, and then I could have prevented his kidnapping. There  _ must  _ have been something more… and I was unable to do it…”

“Hey,” Aki said gently. “It’s not your fault that your dad got kidnapped. You did all you could and there’s no point in contemplating on what ifs, it will just keep gnawing at you. I learnt that the hard way, with Ichinose. I used to think that if I had seen the truck coming, even just a second earlier, I would have been able to warn him. I would have been able to save him, if I had been just a bit more alert, and that his death was my fault. But, as time passes, you’ll inevitably realise that you are not a god. You are not omniscient. You are simply human, and sometimes bad things happen that are beyond your control,” Aki said in a serious tone and Touko suddenly wanted to pick her up and run away to the end of the world with her where no one could hurt this precious girl.

“Well, then, oh-so-wise-Aki-sensei, what has been troubling you about your decisions?” Touko asked in a joking manner, hoping to lighten the conversation.

“I miss football,” she said with a breath held in and Touko raised a brow at her. 

“I mean,” she quickly corrected herself. “I miss playing football. I gave up on it, since as a girl, I didn’t see having a future with pursuing such a hobby. But then you joined the team, and you quickly became one of the boys, as if you have never been born anything else, but a football player. And no one batted an eye, when you became a part of the Inazuma Caravan as a defender, and I just can’t stop thinking that  _ god, I wish that were me _ . I love being a manager for the team and I don’t envy you, Touko, you have every right to be on the team as you are a strong and skillful player. It’s the position you have, that I envy, and now I started thinking that maybe I could have been in your position, had I not been a coward,” her voice was shaking now. “Maybe, if I didn’t settle for being a manager and applied to play instead, and I know that there is a literal alien invasion going on and I’m so selfish for fixating on this, but all I can think of is that I miss playing the field  _ so goddamn much _ and…” Touko placed a hand on Aki’s and that made her snap out of her rambling. The red-haired girl looked the manager in the eyes with such ferocity that it made Aki squint in the grass. The reality of what she had just confessed suddenly dawned on her.

“Now, listen here, Aki, and I need you to  _ really  _ listen because I’m usually not good with words,” Touko said, her voice heavy with gravity and Aki could only gulp and nod in response. “You are  _ not  _ selfish for enjoying football and wanting to play it. You have every right to want to play and you have every right to play on the field. I have seen you kicking the ball around with the boys between practices and I can see that you have the skill. You are not a coward for becoming a manager and you can’t help that the circumstances were not adequate enough for you to become a player. Those things just can’t be helped. But the future, Aki… that can be helped. You have a lifetime to become just whatever you want to be. A player, a coach, a manager, a chef, all these possibilities are still there. You didn’t miss out on anything by becoming a manager, and I swear to you, that if you ever decide to become a player, I will fully support you ‘till the end. Because I know that you will become the most magnificent one of them all, whichever path you decide to take.”

A long silence stretched between the after Touko’s monologue, Aki visibly trying to digest what she had just heard. 

“You are right,” Aki finally said, her face lighting up with hope and Touko felt as if a mountain had left her chest. “There’s nothing lost yet. I’m so young and the world is full of possibilities,” she shook her head and sighed. “I was just so invested in my own past that I didn’t see anything else. Thank you for showing me that there is a future ahead,” she smiled with such confidence that Touko wished that she would smile like that all the time. It suited her. Then the green-haired manager stretched and yawned and this broke the spell. Aki, sorrow long forgotten, got up and gathered some of the bags lying around.

“We should get back to the camp,” she said. “It’s getting late and the whole of the Caravan will likely starve to death if we don’t hurry. It would be a shame, considering that aliens are attacking and all that,” Aki said and Touko burst out laughing. They headed back to the camp, and if during the trip, Aki’s eyes shined a bit like the stars, it must have been only a trick of the streetlights, Touko concluded.


End file.
